Menu

sometimes a stereotype, sometimes not

Would You Rather Travel to the Past or the Future?

A few years ago, I found a 9gag post about 10 or 15 most difficult dilemmas which described “would you rather…” questions. It proved to be so hard for me to decide that I frequently asked my friends the questions to see if they could. For all of them, the questions proved to be equally as hard except for one. There was one question that everyone scoffed at and answered the same. As if the answer was obvious and simple. The question was:

“Would you rather travel to the past or to the future?”

Or at least, something along those lines. Everyone told me that they would rather travel to the future because they already know what happened in the past. But the question was difficult for me because the past was as unknown to me as the future. History books don’t cover what it felt like to live in those times. The beauty and the harshness of it. I’m a total bookworm but something I particularly enjoy is reading fairy tales and myths. Although they are fictional, they tell a lot of what it was to live in those times, what were the issues that people were concerned with. (They’re entertaining too)

I recently saw the new “Beauty and the Beast” film and found it to be completely beautiful. There’s the part where they involved Belle more while still being loyal to the original movie, introduced a diverse cast, and more which I liked. But what awed the most was the castle, the rolling hills and beautiful skies. The rococo style of every room in the castle and the beautiful design of the clothes. I know that while they used real sets, a lot of it was thanks to CGI but it got me thinking again of the past. I always wondered what it would be like to see all the famed buildings and castles in their prime. What it would be like to wear chiton in Ancient Greece or be a duchess in the 17th or 18th century. Would I visit the legendary Pythia and receive an answer? Would I simply read, eat, and sleep (my dream life) or would I be a failure because my singing skills are lacking?

There is, of course, the fact that I would have to take in consideration that as a woman, my time in the past would not be very enjoyable. That and the plague if I ever decided to go to the 14th century. But the point is that the past is just as alluring as the future. We know what happened but we don’t know what it felt like for the people it was happening to. So please, give it a try.